Hurricane Wilma’s 20-Year Legacy in Quintana Roo

QUINTANA ROO, Mexico — "The night before the hurricane, the wind began to blow with force, but we never imagined what was coming. They were moments of great anguish, before, during, and after because we didn't know if it was safe to go out. There was no light or water, and on top of that, the memory of the rumors that dozens of inmates had escaped from the jail because a wall collapsed," recounted Guillermo Campos, who lived through Hurricane Wilma exactly 20 years ago.

The Quintana Roo community experienced moments of terror without light, without water, and without food, with neighborhoods "drowning" from the rains following the hurricane's passage.

The Approach and Evacuations

In Quintana Roo, a "red alert" was declared one night prior. Classes were suspended in the municipalities of the Northern Zone, and residents of coastal areas were warned to seek shelter. However, initially, most people living in the low-lying areas of Cancún refused to leave their homes for fear of looting, until they realized they had to evacuate.

Tourists in Cancún, Isla Mujeres, and Cozumel were suggested to return to their places of origin. From the Northern Zone of Quintana Roo, 40,000 tourists were evacuated. The Army installed the DN-III Plan almost 48 hours before the storm made landfall. More than 400 elements of the Federal Support Forces and the Mexican Navy arrived, as well as nearly 100 Red Cross paramedics to support the Cancún delegation.

A Monster Storm Makes Landfall

Hurricane Wilma began to experience rapid intensification and within 24 hours reached Category 5, the highest on the Saffir-Simpson scale, with maximum sustained winds of 295 km/h. By October 20, its winds had decreased, maintaining it as a Category 4 hurricane as it entered the Yucatán Peninsula.

At 12:00 hours on October 21, it made landfall in Cozumel, and by 3:00 in the afternoon, it had covered the entire island. Just after 8:00 in the evening, it entered through Puerto Morelos, with sustained winds of 220 km/h and gusts of 270 km/h.

Immediately, people literally emptied stores in panic buying, even before the red alert was declared, and the lines of cars at gas stations were endless. Preventive police conducted prevention patrols throughout Cancún.

Widespread Destruction in Cancún

Throughout the city's central streets, an entire network of high-tension poles was knocked down. Palm trees, trees, and even car dealerships fell onto parked cars. There were walls collapsed on vehicles.

The old General Hospital suffered damage to its infrastructure, forcing the transfer of nearly 50 hospitalized patients to secure areas of that unit or to other hospitals. The Hotel Zone experienced flooding from the overflow of the Bojórquez lagoon. A hotel of the Spanish chain Riu was flooded up to its third level, and the second floor of the Sears store in Plaza Las Américas completely disappeared. Businesses were completely destroyed, which facilitated looting.

Looting and the Military Response

The next morning, pillaging overflowed until elements of the Army and the Federal Support Forces arrived to guard shopping plazas and self-service stores to prevent more theft. In total, 73 businesses were looted. In the following days, many of those who committed the acts of plunder were reported anonymously, and fearing arrest, they began to leave the appliances in the middle of the street.

Crews from the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE), who came for support from the center of the country, worked entire days and nights to restore the power supply. Hundreds of neighbors organized themselves into night watch squads due to the supposed inmate escape. Lighting bonfires a few days later resulted in respiratory illnesses in minors and older adults; in fact, a large part of the city smelled of smoke.

Aid and Economic Impact

The Secretary of National Defense (Sedena) sent two Hercules aircraft of 15 tons each to Chetumal, loaded with sheets for the reconstruction of homes, and two more with bottled water and food for the shelters.

The Secretary of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries, and Food confirmed severe damage in Solidaridad, Cozumel, Isla Mujeres, Benito Juárez, Lázaro Cárdenas, and Carrillo Puerto.

According to the Mexican Association of Insurance Institutions (AMIS), the economic impact of Wilma in Quintana Roo amounted to 1,752 million dollars, one of the most costly natural disasters in the country's history.

First Responders' Accounts

The officer in charge of the Fire Department in Cancún, Aquileo Cervantes Álvarez, recalled that at that time he had three years in the corporation. He said there were light poles, trees, and fallen cables, making it impossible for them to transit, and all the support they provided was on foot.

"We mobilized many people to the shelters as best we could because their houses were flooded. We carried out many activities during that hurricane. At that time, we all worked 24-hour shifts, and we were about 100 elements. We also supported evacuations in the Hotel Zone because we already had the 6 bases and the personnel patrolled the areas from their bases. It was a very complicated experience, and afterwards we continued supporting to lift the city. I believe we contributed, working together with all the brigades from the three levels of government," Cervantes stated.

For his part, Amilcar Galaviz, director of the Red Cross in Cancún, said that at the time he was with the Red Cross, but in Playa del Carmen. He recalled one service, just during the storm, where a gas tank exploded in a house; two minors with serious burns were taken to Cancún in an amphibious truck from the Navy.

"It Was Like Hearing the Island Scream": Voices from Cozumel

On October 21, 2005, the island of Cozumel experienced one of the most devastating episodes in its recent history. Hurricane Wilma, a Category 5 cyclone, remained stationary over the island for more than 72 hours, leaving an indelible mark of destruction and resilience.

Its intensity, with winds exceeding 260 kilometers per hour and an eye as large as the island itself, made Wilma the most powerful hurricane recorded in the Caribbean up to that moment. The phenomenon, originating in the western Caribbean, arrived in Quintana Roo with unusual force, severely affecting Cozumel before advancing towards Cancún and the Peninsula.

The extreme conditions caused the collapse of roofs, felling of trees, total loss of vessels, and a widespread power and communications outage. For three days, the island was completely cut off, and only solidarity among the inhabitants allowed them to withstand the impact.

Entire families took refuge in their homes or in improvised shelters while the wind roared incessantly. "It was like hearing the island scream. We thought we weren't going to get out alive," recalls María Hernández, a resident of the San Miguel neighborhood, who lost her home that night.

In Cozumel, the structural damages were substantial, with destroyed docks, businesses wiped out, and tons of rubble covering the seawall. "When the eye of the hurricane passed over us, the silence was deceptive. We went out thinking it had ended, but hours later the wind returned with more force," recounted Carlos Pech, then a Civil Protection volunteer. "We had to improvise shelters with sheets and tarps. There was no signal, no light, no gasoline, nothing."

The recovery was slow and costly. However, the community response set a precedent. "Wilma changed us forever," affirms Rosa María Cárdenas, a merchant in the municipal market. "We lost everything, but we also learned to work together. Since then, every hurricane season we prepare better."

Two Decades Later, the Hurricane Lives in the Memories of Lázaro Cárdenas Residents

The municipality of Lázaro Cárdenas has radically transformed its approach to disaster response, consolidating a culture of prevention that is now the foundation of its resilience to hydrometeorological threats.

Hurricane Wilma, with its catastrophic floods in Holbox, the union of the sea, river, and lagoon, and boats stranded on houses in Chiquilá, was the catalyst that drove a profound evolution in Civil Protection, infrastructure, and, fundamentally, in citizen awareness.

The hurricane, a powerful phenomenon that remains alive in the memory of the inhabitants, exposed the vulnerability of the municipality: coastal communities like Holbox and Chiquilá were submerged, the Valladolid Nuevo area became inaccessible and flooded, and La Esperanza was isolated by the overflow of the lagoon, in addition to numerous road cuts. This traumatic lesson, however, became the engine for systemic change, authorities from Civil Protection of Lázaro Cárdenas stated.

One of the greatest lessons was the critical relevance of early warning. The activation of the Red Alert on October 19, 2005, allowed for the evacuation of tourists and residents from coastal areas, including Holbox and Chiquilá. Although the rapid response was key to avoiding a greater number of victims in the state, the municipality also evidenced the need to reinforce the perception of risk in the local population.

Currently, early warning systems and community training are essential tools that have positioned the region at a superior level of response to extreme events. The prolonged lack of electricity and potable water that extended for days and even weeks after Wilma forced the equipping of shelters with backup power systems and strategic reserves of basic supplies, thus ensuring self-sufficiency in the period following the impact.

Furthermore, constant monitoring of low-lying and vulnerable areas – fully identified during the hurricane, such as the floodable areas in Valladolid Nuevo and the zones near bodies of water – is carried out every rainy season. This allows for an immediate and efficient reaction should a preventive evacuation be necessary.

The lesson from Wilma also extended to the realm of security and public order. To prevent acts of plunder and guarantee citizen security during and after hydrometeorological phenomena, the Operative Committee against Hydrometeorological Phenomena was established and has evolved.

The Road to Recovery

A week or ten days after the storm passed, the power plants, airports, and highways resumed operations. Stranded tourists managed to return home, the pillaging decreased, and little by everything returned to normality in the city of Cancún. But the Hotel Zone remained without the life that characterized it, and the night lights of the discos were off for weeks. General access was closed; there were elements of the Navy at the entrance and exit of Boulevard Kukulcan, but elements guarding the disco zone, which was completely in darkness, could also be seen.

The hurricane affected a large part of the beaches; a high percentage of the tourist infrastructure was affected. Although it was forecasted that the Cancún Hotel Zone would take several months to recover, it only took 4 to 5 weeks. Little by little, the hotels, restaurants, and discos opened their doors, most after collecting their insurance policies. Other small business owners had to seek loans to accelerate their recovery, and without a doubt, some went bankrupt and had to close.

At two decades, Quintana Roo residents continue to remember what they lived through.